Corndel welcomes its first degree apprentices

The degree apprenticeships will be delivered by Corndel’s new higher education initiative Corndel College London (CCL). Founded in October 2022, CCL’s mission is to bring education and the working world closer together.

The degree has been developed in partnership with businesses to align with industry demand and innovation to address skills gaps for sought-after, highly skilled roles that UK businesses are struggling to recruit for. With one-to-one coaching from academic and industry experts as its core, the programme blends the essential digital, management and professional skills needed to thrive in a fast-moving workplace.

Moving at the speed of industry demand and innovation to shape its degree offering, CCL will launch a BSc (Hons) Digital & Technology Solutions Degree Apprenticeship in September 2023, with a specific focus on data analysis for business professionals.

Our business partners are using the degree apprenticeships to upskill current employees and to develop skills in their early talent who have just joined the business. 

Katie Rankin, Emerging Talent & Careers Manager at Jet2.com and Jet2holidays commented: “Corndel’s degree apprenticeship will equip our colleagues with essential business and management skills, whilst also developing the digital know-how required in today’s workplace. We are committed to supporting our emerging talent’s skills development and look forward to working in partnership with Corndel to deliver a highly relevant degree programme to our current and future managers.”

Visa has also placed a number of its early talent employees on the BSc (Hons) Applied Business Management degree apprenticeship programme. Daniel Farrar, Early Careers Lead, Visa, said: “This new degree apprenticeship offers employers like us the opportunity to recruit early career professionals who will learn the critical business, management and technology skills needed to grow and thrive in today’s ever-evolving workplace.” 

For the future workforce, degree apprenticeships increasingly offer an attractive route into work. Corndel’s research with Opinium found 79% of 16-25 year olds think that degree apprenticeships are a more direct route into a career and will become more popular in future. 

James Kelly, CEO and Co-Founder of Corndel says: “Competition among businesses for highly skilled early careers talent has never been more acute. With fewer young people entering the labour market equipped with the right skills, these new degree apprenticeships will help to address this issue. Partnering with firms to upskill their existing employees and to develop early career talent provides a cost-effective and efficient way to improve productivity and employee retention. We believe that vocational training, funded through the Apprenticeship Levy, is one of the most impactful and sustainable ways to bridge the UK’s skills gap.” 

Professor Niamh Downing, Principal  of CCL, commented: “Skills-focused degree apprenticeships offer a key opportunity for people who hadn’t previously considered higher education to gain a degree qualification combined with workplace experience and future-ready skills. These new degree apprenticeships combine academic excellence with a tailored learning programme designed in collaboration with businesses to develop high performing talent ready to tackle workplace challenges.  

“Our innovative approach includes highly personalised coaching from academic and industry experts as a core part of each degree apprenticeship, supported by a team of expert tutors and access to high-quality digital content. Together, this will create an inspiring experience that sets our learners up for success whilst developing the practical skills and experience needed in the workplace. ”